Telluride Issue - Water Entering The Interior

[Tellmeride]

Design flaw? Or defective sunroof? Or they left it open during a downpour and tried to cover it up?

If this much water got underneath the seats from an opened sunroof, can you imagine what kind of damage was done to the seats, the electronics, the dash, the center console, etc... but the OP reports none of that, so this is ruled out.

 

[TellmeyourWHAT?]

Will be interesting to see what KIA finally does to make this right.

 

[G-304480]

Spoke to KIA corp this morning. They are escalating the claim and will call me soon.

 

[hall_liz]

We purchased a new Telluride 3 weeks ago, and noticed moisture under the rear passenger floor mat a week later. We took it in and they said it was a clogged drain from the AC and cleared it. On weeks 2 the water showed back up and we took it back to the dealership who tested for leaks and weren't sure what was wrong. After speaking with KIA Corp- We took to another KIA dealership - who removed the seats and flooring to discover 5 gallons of water just sitting in the bottom of the chassis. They now have to remove everything and do a flood mitigation as there is wiring and control boxes exposed to water. They still don't know exactly why this is happening. I haven't even had the car for 30 days and am uncomfortable with the potential of mold and corrosion. Thoughts

I would love to get into contact with you about this. We are experiencing VERY similar. We were returned our 2023 Telluride with zero repairs telling us they cannot find where water would be coming into the car. We are beyond frustrated and have no idea what to do.

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[hall_liz]

We purchased our 2023 Telluride June 13, 2023. Water is somehow getting inside our car under the passenger seat and behind the passenger is accumulating water when we drive in the rain. I thought at first one of our daughters spilled a very large water bottle. Turns out the times the two times we’ve driven in a rainstorm in our Telluride is when water is puddling underneath the passenger seat and behind passenger. It’s enough water that it’s soaking through the carpet car mats. Long story short, we took it in, they removed all the seats and carpet. They created a ‘rain simulated’ that sprayed 360° around the car and they still cannot find a leak. The AC is fine, no line is clogged, sunroof is fine. All seals look great. They told us that the window would have had to be left down during the storms to cause this much water to come into the car. Why the heck would I sabotage my brand new car?!! When we took our car to the dealership the carpet was dry, they removed the carpet, seats and one of the employees could submerge her hand in the water under the passenger seat. It’s been with Kia for 3 weeks now and they are saying there is no leak or anyway water could be coming inside the car. We are beyond frustrated. I picked up my car today, and examined the inside very thoroughly and discovered a big rip in the headliner. I was so upset. They are keeping the car, having a Kia seamstress repair it and if it doesn’t look brand new they will replace the entire headliner. My husband and I don’t know what to do. Hoping it rains soon so we can prove the floorboard does indeed get soaked with water without the windows being down. Help!!

 

[FeGee3]

We purchased our 2023 Telluride June 13, 2023. Water is somehow getting inside our car under the passenger seat and behind the passenger is accumulating water when we drive in the rain. I thought at first one of our daughters spilled a very large water bottle. Turns out the times the two times we’ve driven in a rainstorm in our Telluride is when water is puddling underneath the passenger seat and behind passenger. It’s enough water that it’s soaking through the carpet car mats. Long story short, we took it in, they removed all the seats and carpet. They created a ‘rain simulated’ that sprayed 360° around the car and they still cannot find a leak. The AC is fine, no line is clogged, sunroof is fine. All seals look great. They told us that the window would have had to be left down during the storms to cause this much water to come into the car. Why the heck would I sabotage my brand new car?!! When we took our car to the dealership the carpet was dry, they removed the carpet, seats and one of the employees could submerge her hand in the water under the passenger seat. It’s been with Kia for 3 weeks now and they are saying there is no leak or anyway water could be coming inside the car. We are beyond frustrated. I picked up my car today, and examined the inside very thoroughly and discovered a big rip in the headliner. I was so upset. They are keeping the car, having a Kia seamstress repair it and if it doesn’t look brand new they will replace the entire headliner. My husband and I don’t know what to do. Hoping it rains soon so we can prove the floorboard does indeed get soaked with water without the windows being down. Help!!

Take videos. Probably will be a lot of work but we are talking about a ~$50k dollar vehicle so, probably worth it. When you know there is a storm coming while you are out take a video of under the seats, maybe using some gray cloth to rub around on the dry floors. Prove it is dry with no discoloration of the cloth. Then as a passenger take videos during the drive in the rain and again once you stop, using the gray rag or T-shirt again to show the dampness from the carpet. Make sure you time stamp everything.

Sorry to hear you are going through this with your new Telly. It should not be like that at all.

 

[techturtle]

For the OP maybe where your cars were prior to delivery? there's been a lot of flooding across different parts of the country. The only other thing I would say is look at the lemon laws for your state. I successfully filed for a previous car (not Kia) I owned. It started leaking & I had only 40 miles on it. Took 6 months for the dealership to figure out where it was coming from. I had a rental for 6 months while they took the car apart to find it. After 3 tries to fix the same problem without resolution, it became a "lemon". Even when they finally did fix it (well past 3 tries). Super simple to file. I didn't get a new car but did get a monetary settlement. As it was explained to me with water between mold, rust and the electronics its never going to be 100% "fixed". Oh and it was my windshield seal the whole time... The thing I told them I thought it was at the start. Took them 6 months to actually look and change it.

 

[hall_liz]

Take videos. Probably will be a lot of work but we are talking about a ~$50k dollar vehicle so, probably worth it. When you know there is a storm coming while you are out take a video of under the seats, maybe using some gray cloth to rub around on the dry floors. Prove it is dry with no discoloration of the cloth. Then as a passenger take videos during the drive in the rain and again once you stop, using the gray rag or T-shirt again to show the dampness from the carpet. Make sure you time stamp everything.

Sorry to hear you are going through this with your new Telly. It should not be like that at all.

Thank you for your response! I appreciate it. I’m hoping it rains soon. We are in Texas so we use the AC everyday. We plan to do exactly what you suggested. Have they found what is going on with your Telly? Are they doing anything for you? I’m wondering if there is anything more we can do?! Get an attorney involved? Demand a new car?

I’m so sorry you are going though this as well. It’s not right at all. Investing in a 60k car you want it to be perfect and it’s been a nightmare for us.

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[TellmeyourWHAT?]

Thank you for your response! I appreciate it. I’m hoping it rains soon. We are in Texas so we use the AC everyday. We plan to do exactly what you suggested. Have they found what is going on with your Telly? Are they doing anything for you? I’m wondering if there is anything more we can do?! Get an attorney involved? Demand a new car?

I’m so sorry you are going though this as well. It’s not right at all. Investing in a 60k car you want it to be perfect and it’s been a nightmare for us.

IF the dealer is giving you the run-around, then yes - get an attorney. They can cut through the bs.

 

[masseyhughes]

So the Telly is still at the dealership "drying out" so they can see if they need to send it out for mold remediation. We have had the car 1 month yesterday. We live in South Carolina, but purchased the car in Albany, NY as we summer up here and our old truck was totaled on July 4th - thus we needed to purchase a new car right away. KIA Corp informed us that the truck will be at least another week, and I shared with them again that we are leaving for South Carolina on Friday the 18th of August. They apologized and said that I would need to find a way to pick up the truck in NEW YORK to avoid storage fees once it is repaired. They did email me the paperwork to escalate the claim. This is the third time in one month since we purchased that it has been in. No words...

 

[Senator20]

Where in NY?

 

[masseyhughes]

Where in NY?

We have a camp near Pulaski, NY and bought our KIA at Destination KIA in Albany. They are hard to come by!!

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[Senator20]

I would ask for your Kia back and bring it to another dealership closer to your home.

 

[Walter1706]

Our Telluride 2024 is 4 weeks old and after three trips pulled 5 gallons of water out from under the floorboard. They are not sure of the source and we had the AC drains cleared in our last visit.

Curious if they found the issue? Just took my 2024 Telluride in yesterday with the same issue. Still waiting to hear back from them...

 

[jkbenzene]

So I wanted to start another thread about water intrusion into my 2023 Kia Telluride SX X-line since I unfortunately have run into this problem. This does not seem to be anything new considering the amount of similar posts I have found on this forum and elsewhere. Unfortunately however, there is some variance in the descriptions of similar reports and also not a clear resolution in some cases. My case more specifically is that water enters the vehicle when I take it through the car wash as I don't often have to drive through heavy downpours (nor do we really get these very often here in Denver). I have had some water exit into the cabin through the passenger side sun visor arm and then also collect on the front sunroof shade.

Just to quickly summarize some of the other similar reports I have found here (cannot include links for some reason so search for titles):

• Heavy rain and water dripping on passenger floor
  Similar reports of passenger side water intrusion in heavy rain. One poster said they had a windshield replaced. Some other people chimed in with similar issues (even on a new 2024 model!) but no other resolutions.
• Leak when in car wash
  Issue exactly same as I described going through car wash. OP never posted if their issue was finally resolved. Someone else had responded they got Kia to replace windshield but didn't say if issue was exactly the same.
• New Telluride Prestige SX AWD Leaking during first rain and only 5 days old
  Water in rear cabin area (3rd row) during rain. OP got this issue resolved by dealer when they pulled the headliner and did a leak test. Someone else chimed in with the same issue and got theirs resolved by having the entire rear panoramic sunroof removed and seals replaced.

Note that there are more posts I have found but those seem to be more related to windshield seal issues. Also, there is even a youtube video. The tech in the video shows how improper sealing/caulking of the drain channel funnels can cause water to enter the cabin.

So I wanted to get people's thoughts here on what the best course of action might be for Telluride owners who run into this issue and what all needs to be checked. Unfortunately, I have already been to the dealer once. It wasn't exactly clear what work they did (service desk guy didn't explain and techs notes were brief) or if they even disassembled the front sunroof. I am doubting that they did based on the timing. All the notes indicate was that the tech found something like a hole on the weather seals on one of the sunroofs and replaced it. The tech indicated it might be from powerwashing but wasn't sure. They didn't charge me, but the service desk basically told me not to power wash my vehicle. The service desk also said that avoiding powerwashing is stated in the manual and I just responded okay, noting to myself it is kind of stupid to say something like this when I had the problem in a commercial carwash. I have had the issue happen again one time after all of this.

My thoughts are that it is definitely one of the sunroofs in my case, although I cannot say for sure which one. There is a chance it could also be due to inadequate sealing of the drain rail funnel on the passenger side as shown on the youtube video. I am curious what people's thoughts are on best course of action since I have already been to a dealership once. Should I call Kia Corporate and get them to work with me on finding a dealership in my area to resolve the issue? Luckily there are many dealerships in the Denver area. It seems like I may also have to work with an autobody/glass shop since the Kia techs may not have the expertise to really troubleshoot this issue. Maybe I say this time I had the issue occured in heavy rain?

 

[jkbenzene]

I am starting to wonder if inadequate sealing with silicon adhesive is causing more widespread problems on Tellurides with the single or dual sunroofs. Sunroofs are designed to the best of my knowledge to allow some water intrusion and can never be completely impermeable. For this reason, holes in the perimeter of the sunroof opening (right under the glass area), drip collection rails and tubes are added to collect any water which gets past the exterior seal and designed to direct the water which enters to someplace on the bottom exterior of the vehicle.

Some other threads on this forum have linked a youtube video (see below) in which a tech shows that one of the funnels at the end of drip tray which feeds into the exit tubing wasn't adequately sealed/adhered onto the drip tray. Too little silicone adhesive was used on one funnel in the video so water was exiting through the area where there was little to no silicone. It is hard to tell in that video but I think these two drip funnels on either side of the vehicle are fairly close to the B pillar. I kind of wonder if over time, this could be the cause of the issues described by masseyhughes and Walter1706.

So hear me out. Say that the silicone seal used around the funnels is indeed inadequate. I know looking from other threads that the Telluride owned by masseyhughes was outside during some heavy rains. So some water likely got in through the sunroof exterior seals and made its way to the drip trays and funnels. Now depending on the street, driveway, etc. the vehicle is parked on, there can be some tilt forward/backward of the vehicle and/or towards the driver/passenger side (mostly to the passenger side if vehicle is parked next to curb). I think there is some possibility that the combination of a bad funnel seal and certain tilts could make that water flow towards specific areas of the vehicle frame. I really don't know what the areas under the headliner look like so I am just working off that video, on which I can see the proximity of the funnel to the B pillar. I also think that the rigid board the headliner fabric is attached to likely has some water resistance (or is maybe even almost completely impermeable for some amount of water). So maybe, under the right combination of factors, water can exit the funnel area through the poor seal, get onto the top of the headliner, and then flow towards the direction of tilt, which could be the B pillar. If the water got there, then it isn't out of the realm of possibilities that it could from the top of the vehicle to chassis or flooring from the B pillar column or the surrounding framing. If this happens enough times, then you start collecting water somewhere near the floor.

Maybe this is crazy? What do people think? Mostly asking since I also have some water intrusion issues, although in my case the water has exited into the cabin from the passenger side sun visor arm. Maybe the vehicle tilt in my case was the water which came out of the funnel ran along the headliner to that area.

Here is that youtube video if people want to watch:

______________________________

 

[jkbenzene]

So I wanted to start another thread about water intrusion into my 2023 Kia Telluride SX X-line since I unfortunately have run into this problem. This does not seem to be anything new considering the amount of similar posts I have found on this forum and elsewhere. Unfortunately however, there is some variance in the descriptions of similar reports and also not a clear resolution in some cases. My case more specifically is that water enters the vehicle when I take it through the car wash as I don't often have to drive through heavy downpours (nor do we really get these very often here in Denver). I have had some water exit into the cabin through the passenger side sun visor arm and then also collect on the front sunroof shade.

Just to quickly summarize some of the other similar reports I have found here (cannot include links for some reason so search for titles):

• Heavy rain and water dripping on passenger floor
  Similar reports of passenger side water intrusion in heavy rain. One poster said they had a windshield replaced. Some other people chimed in with similar issues (even on a new 2024 model!) but no other resolutions.
• Leak when in car wash
  Issue exactly same as I described going through car wash. OP never posted if their issue was finally resolved. Someone else had responded they got Kia to replace windshield but didn't say if issue was exactly the same.
• New Telluride Prestige SX AWD Leaking during first rain and only 5 days old
  Water in rear cabin area (3rd row) during rain. OP got this issue resolved by dealer when they pulled the headliner and did a leak test. Someone else chimed in with the same issue and got theirs resolved by having the entire rear panoramic sunroof removed and seals replaced.

Note that there are more posts I have found but those seem to be more related to windshield seal issues. Also, there is even a youtube video. The tech in the video shows how improper sealing/caulking of the drain channel funnels can cause water to enter the cabin.

So I wanted to get people's thoughts here on what the best course of action might be for Telluride owners who run into this issue and what all needs to be checked. Unfortunately, I have already been to the dealer once. It wasn't exactly clear what work they did (service desk guy didn't explain and techs notes were brief) or if they even disassembled the front sunroof. I am doubting that they did based on the timing. All the notes indicate was that the tech found something like a hole on the weather seals on one of the sunroofs and replaced it. The tech indicated it might be from powerwashing but wasn't sure. They didn't charge me, but the service desk basically told me not to power wash my vehicle. The service desk also said that avoiding powerwashing is stated in the manual and I just responded okay, noting to myself it is kind of stupid to say something like this when I had the problem in a commercial carwash. I have had the issue happen again one time after all of this.

My thoughts are that it is definitely one of the sunroofs in my case, although I cannot say for sure which one. There is a chance it could also be due to inadequate sealing of the drain rail funnel on the passenger side as shown on the youtube video. I am curious what people's thoughts are on best course of action since I have already been to a dealership once. Should I call Kia Corporate and get them to work with me on finding a dealership in my area to resolve the issue? Luckily there are many dealerships in the Denver area. It seems like I may also have to work with an autobody/glass shop since the Kia techs may not have the expertise to really troubleshoot this issue. Maybe I say this time I had the issue occured in heavy rain?

Just updating that my original post quoted above was started as a new thread. Moved to this thread likely because it is related and I had not received any responses for a number of days on the new post/thread.

Also, figured out the links so here they are:

• Heavy rain and water dripping on passenger floor - seems like these got consolidated to this thread
• Leak when in car wash
• New Telluride Prestige SX AWD Leaking during first rain and only 5 days old

 

[G-259123]

We purchased a new Telluride 3 weeks ago, and noticed moisture under the rear passenger floor mat a week later. We took it in and they said it was a clogged drain from the AC and cleared it. On weeks 2 the water showed back up and we took it back to the dealership who tested for leaks and weren't sure what was wrong. After speaking with KIA Corp- We took to another KIA dealership - who removed the seats and flooring to discover 5 gallons of water just sitting in the bottom of the chassis. They now have to remove everything and do a flood mitigation as there is wiring and control boxes exposed to water. They still don't know exactly why this is happening. I haven't even had the car for 30 days and am uncomfortable with the potential of mold and corrosion. Thoughts

My 2024 telluride has actually started to grow mold on the carpet from this. I haven't taken it to the dealer as we just noticed the issue. Just curious have you got any update

 

[Varun25p]

Hi All,

I have 2022 Kia Telluride SX AWD trim. Today in the car wash noticed that water leaking into the rear passenger window seals. I never had any problem in the past and this is happening all of sudden. I have scheduled a service with Kia Dealer on 10/28. Anyone had this problem and will dealership resolve the issue?

Appreciate your response on this..!

 

[Jim- Lancaster PA]

We just discovered water is leaking into our 2023 Telluride with under 4,000 miles on it. I will take it to the dealer ASAP. I found water on the soft plastic tray floor protector that covers the area behind the 2nd row seats to the hatchback. Water would have moved around on that large tray so I am not sure exactly where behind the second row of seats it entered the car or fell from to get on the protective tray. I don't think our rear moonroof opens up except the sliding cover under it to let light in. But it may still leak I suppose.

I would like KIA to give us a loaner car until ours is repaired or replaced. Is that too much to ask?